


Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?

by Elisexyz



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Haunted Houses, Pre-Season/Series 01, Tallahassee Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-08-25 11:23:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16660201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elisexyz/pseuds/Elisexyz
Summary: Apparently, Neal doesn't like haunted houses. It's amusing, until it's not.





	Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Tumblr prompt: [47\. “Don’t look in her eyes, she might steal your soul.” + Swanfire](http://heytheredeann.tumblr.com/post/180526044179/may-i-get-sarcastic-prompt-47-for).

 

One thing that she was quick to learn about Neal is that the guy is annoyingly _chill_ , no matter what.

It’s not that he puts up a macho-man act – between the two of them, that sounds much more like her, honestly –, he just genuinely doesn’t seem to be particularly scared of much.

Emma has a bit of a conflictual relationship with spiders, whereas he acts like he could keep a pet tarantula and not bat an eye – he says he grew up in a forest, and alright, that makes sense, but she still can’t phantom how he can look at those little eight-legged monsters and not freak out.

He says he isn’t afraid of heights – she’ll test it, sooner or later –, since they both live in a small car she supposes he doesn’t have much of a problem with tight spaces, he sleeps like a baby through thunderstorms, shoplifting doesn’t make him nervous, he’s not in the least intimidated by dogs— she’s beginning to wonder if he’s even human.

Which is why it comes as a bit of surprise when for Halloween there’s free access to an haunted house, and he isn’t particularly enthusiastic to get in.

She wants to, so he complies, and at first she just thinks he’s tired because they have been running around all day, but then he begins to seem— _stiff_.

As they walk through dark corridors with obviously fake spiderwebs attached everywhere, vails of fuming potions in the weirdest colours and fake blood all over the place, he walks weirdly close to her, and his wary expression doesn’t match her grin.

“Are you scared?” she asks, amused. And, alright, teasing him probably isn’t _nice_ , but if The Guy Who Is So Annoyingly Chill About Everything is scared of vampires, witches and ghosts— I mean, it’s a little bit funny.

“I just never liked this stuff,” he mumbles, shooting a wary look at a purple potion fuming on his left.

“Come on, I’ll protect you from the scary guys with fake teeth,” she announces, grinning at him as she grabs his hand and tugs him closer.

She gets a small smile in response to that. “Well, in that case…”

A few feet forward, a pretty damn convincing zombie jumps them, and Emma has to admit that _she_ had a bit of a stroke as well. Those growls were convincing, alright?

“Damn, that was good,” she comments, shooting Neal a look: he seems to be holding up pretty much like her, so they keep going. Some of the decorations are painfully fake, but there are some very thought-out details: there’s what she thinks is supposed to be a spell book, with a skull right next to it, that really does seem like the kind of ancient thing that an evil witch could use to kill you from a safe distance.

When a witch jumps in front of them and raises a shaky finger, chanting something in a language that could be completely made up for all Emma knows as green lights flash around them to make it creepier, she tugs Neal a little closer, grinning in amusement – that’s one awesome costume, that’s for sure – as she turns around and warns, jokingly: “Careful, don’t look in her eyes, she might steal your soul.”

She kind of feels like shit approximately a second later, when she notices that he’s pretty much a minute away from throwing up.

“Oh, hey, you okay?” she frowns, pulling him away, past the witch and in a corner where nothing seems to be happening, besides a fake spider enjoying its web – she just hopes that no ghost will suddenly jump out of the closet next to them.

“Been better,” Neal offers, his hold on her hand tightening a bit.

She takes a step closer, stroking his arm with her free hand. “You know it’s all fake, right? It’s people in costumes and special effects, that’s all.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” he says, quickly. “It’s not real. Can we— go?”

“Yes, of course,” she immediately says, offering what she hopes is a reassuring smile and feeling like shit for poking fun at him instead of asking if he wanted to step out. Now they are like at half of the route, the only way they can get out is walking to the end of it, until they find the exit. Great.

She tries to make it as painless as possible for him by basically speed-walking through it and moving to shield him from whatever comes out of the closets and the dark corners, but it feels like forever before they are safely outside.

The loud chatter and the people walking around in costumes probably don’t make for a very relaxing atmosphere, but Neal seems to be much more comfortable there, where they can at least see their feet clearly.

She lets go of his hand, sliding her arm around his waist instead. He leans a little closer, wrapping his arm around her in return.

“Feeling any better?” she asks, without bothering to mask an hint of worry.

“Yeah, yeah— sorry,” he replies, looking away awkwardly.

Emma draws in a sharp breath. “You know, if you were that scared you could have said no,” she points out. Like, she was shitty for making fun of him, but she just assumed that it wasn’t _too_ bad, if he agreed to go in. Why _did_ he say yes if he’s that scared of that stuff?

That’s basically Surviving 101: you don’t jump head-first into situations that you _know_ you’ll hate. It’s not like anybody else is going to do you the favour of noticing that you don’t want to be there and act accordingly – even she, try as she might, was late.

He shrugs. “Isn’t that the point? Being scared?”

She gives him an unimpressed look. “ _Yes_ , but _fun_ scared. Not ‘Oh god, I’m gonna throw up’ scared.”

He offers another shrug. “You wanted to have fun, and it’s not like we have costumes to trick or treat, so…”

She rolls her eyes at him. “You are— _so_ dumb. We could have had fun some other way. In fact, we _are_ going to.”

“How?” he prompts, with an hint of amusement. Emma is pleased to notice that he doesn’t look pale like sheets anymore, and the knot in her stomach eases a little in front of his small smile.

“We are going to buy candies,” she announces. “It’s Halloween, I’ve seen a store that gives big bags for a couple of bucks. _Then_ we are eating them all.”

He snorts in genuine amusement, bowing his head a little as he squeezes her shoulders to bring her closer than she already is. “Sounds like a plan.”

 

They make a mess of the car, and for weeks afterwards they keep finding candy paper stashed under the seats and in the most unthinkable places, but, if you ask Emma, it’s probably one of the best Halloweens she’s ever had.

**Author's Note:**

> This story is part of the [LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject), which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including: 
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * Questions
>   * “<3” as extra kudos
>   * Reader-reader interaction
> 

> 
> If you don’t want a reply, for any reason, feel free to sign your comment with “whisper” and I will appreciate it but not respond!


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